The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act passed by Congress provides for a fine of up to $1 million for any U.S. corporation found to have paid a bribe to a foreign government. [Yet another vague law that promotes abuse by the government]

1990

It is reported by the book, The Peoples Chronology, (Copyright 1992, Henry Holt and Co.) that U.S. prisons now have 1.3 (1.7 as of 1996) million inmates, twice as many as in 1980 and more than in the Soviet Union or any other country, yet crime is still rampant. It costs more per year to maintain a prisoner than to send him to Harvard!

1993

Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary revealed that the government had conducted more than 200 nuclear weapons tests in secret. (AP, 12/7/98)

1993

Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders suggested that the government study the impact of drug legalization. (AP, 12/7/98) [Goodby Joycelyn!]

and . . .

Quote of
the Day

It seems that 'we have never gone to war for conquest, for exploitation, nor for territory'; we have the word of a president [McKinley] for that. Observe, now, how Providence overrules the intentions of the truly good for their advantage. We went to war with Mexico for peace, humanity and honor, yet emerged from the contest with an extension of territory beyond the dreams of political avarice. We went to war with Spain for relief of an oppressed people [the Cubans], and at the close found ourselves in possession of vast and rich insular dependencies [primarily the Philippines] . . . We could hardly have profited more had 'territorial aggrandizement' been the spirit of our purpose and heart of our hope.
— Ambrose Bierce, US author & satirist (1842 - 1914)